Getting Started

Probate is the legal court process by which the estate of a deceased person is distributed to his or her heirs. The Church of England ecclesiastical courts had authority for this process until to 1858. Beginning in 1858, authority over probate matters was taken from ecclesiastical courts and put under the civil authority of the Principal Probate Registry. The Post-1857 Probate Records section below contains links to additional information about the records of this court.

To look for a probate record before 1858:

Discover when and where your ancestor died. If you don’t know, use the approximate date and place where they lived.

Some Explanatory Notes on the Oxfordshire Probate Courts

Court Jurisdictions

Before 1858, every parish was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary and several secondary courts. To see an alphabetical list of Oxfordshire parishes and the courts that had jurisdiction over them, click on the link for the letter that a parish name begins with:

The area of jurisdiction of the Peculiar Court of Thame and Great Milton includes the Oxfordshire parishes of Great Milton (including Little Milton), Sydeham, Tetsworth and Thame and the Buckinghamshire parish of Towersey. Contains a list of names extracted from wills proved in the court of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln cathedral for the Peculiar of Thame and Great Milton, 1736-1857, held in Oxfordshire Record Office under reference MSS.Wills.Pec 11-19. The main list comprising over 3,400 names is arranged in alphabetic sequence and has a reference number against each name to the list of testators. A 2-character relationship code is also shown where the person named is stated to have a relationship to the testator. The list of testators is presented in reference number sequence and shows, for each testator, the Oxfordshire Record Office reference, the date of the will, the date the will was proved and the name and location of the testator.http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titledetails&titleno=1224371&disp=The+Peculiar+Court+of+Thame+and+Great+Mi%20%20&columns=*,0,0

This booklet contains a list of names extracted from 312 wills proved in the Peculiar Court of Banbury and Cropredy in the years 1796-1857 inclusive and 26 wills proved in the Manorial Court of Sibford in the years 1786-1829. The main list, comprising over 3,000 names, is arranged in alphabetic sequence ... The list of testators is presented in reference number sequence and shows, for each testator, the Oxfordshire Record Office reference, the date of the will, the date the will was proved and the name and location of the testator ... The area of jurisdiction of the Peculiar Court of Banbury and Cropredy includes the Oxfordshire parishes of Banbury, Cropredy (including Great and Little Bourton, Claydon, Mollington and Wardington), and Horley (with Hornton), the Northamptonshire parish of Kings Sutton, and Grimsbury (in Banbury parish but in Northamptonshire). The Manorial Court of Sibford had jurisdiction in the hamlets of Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris, both within the Oxfordshire parish of Swalcliffe" -- Back of cover.

Index to the probate records of the courts of the bishop and archdeacon of Oxford, 1733-1857 : and of the Oxfordshire peculiars, 1547-1856 [1]

Estate Duty Records

Starting in 1796, a tax or death duty was payable on estates over a certain value. Estate duty abstracts may add considerable information not found elsewhere. Between 1813-1858 estate duty indexes may help locate a will. For more information, go to Estate Duty Records.

Post-1857 Probate Records

Beginning in 1858, the government took over the settlement of estates and all wills are now probated through the Principal Probate Registry system. The system consists of 11 district registry offices and 18 sub-district registries, located throughout England and Wales, and the principal registry office located in London. The records are available through the office of Her Majesty's Courts Service. To learn more, go to the HMCS website.

A country-wide surname index to the records is available, so it is much easier to look for post-1857 wills. The indexes for 1858-1957 and the records for 1858-1925 are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.